Lady in Red for the Challenge

Don't forget to enter the RED challenge this week! Here is a freebie for you, a pretty fabulous Lady in Red. You'll find more like her on my Victorian Neoclassical Art CD.

WINNER OF LADY BLUE CHALLENGE

The magic randomizer plug-in has give me the number of the winner of the Lunagirl LADY BLUE blog challenge. 

A big thank you to EVERYONE who linked up their lovely blue ladies for this challenge.  It was certainly an enchanting group of entries, and I hope to see you all again in the next challenge.

The lucky winner for the Lady Blue challenge is.....

#8 2amscrapper!

Congrats!  Please email me at info@lunagirl.com to claim your two Lunagirl digital collage sheets of your choosing!


Everyone please be sure to come back tomorrow for the next Lunagirl Moonbeams blog challenge, the theme of which is WITCHERY.  Perfect for this time of year, right?  The Design Team has laready sent me some great samples; I just need to create the challenge badge and get it ready to post.  So see you soon.

Lady Blue with Flowers by Petra

Here is another image that brings to mind the word Reverie -- a pretty blue flapper lady who looks like she has something on her mind, a faraway look in her eyes.  Petra has created a beautiful card with this Lady Blue.

"I used an image from the Vintage Blue Collage Sheet which I layered on patterend paper. The card is embellishment with a handmade fabric leave, some Mulberry flowers, a couple of staples and a twine bow." -- Petra Berendsen
PetraB's Allsorts

Don't forget you have until Sunday to link up your Lady Blue creation in the current blog challenge!  We have some very pretty and creative entries so far, and I would love to see yours as well...

Blue Ladies from the DT to Inspire You this Monday Morning

The fabulous Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team offers you more lovely inspiration for the Lady Blue challenge!

LUNAGIRL MOONBEAMS DESIGN TEAM
Find out more about the Moonbeams DT and visit their blogs! 

Here are some lovely interpretations of "Lady Blue" from the Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team ~ a beautiful start to our challenge.  The DT are using images from these Lunagirl digital collage sheets:
Vintage Blue
Blue Belles
Sultry Blue

Vicki Romaine

From Vicki Romaine >> a pretty blue fairy flapper card:  
"I used the background that Lunagirl is giving away as a sample along with various shades of solid blue cardstock.  The beautiful trim was made with a Martha Stewart punch. The sentiment was made with a Kolette Hall stamp."

Michelle Storms "Mood du Jour"!
Nice use of double images.
Love that one little orange butterfly :-)

Mandy Chilvers

<< From Mandy Chilvers, this sweet vintage style postcard: 
"I've made a postcard using the Blue Belles collage sheet. I cut the image out of the background and then re-coloured the blue dress with watercolours to make the blue more blue.  I've also used the flower from the vintage butterfly collage sheet. 

The background is made from scratch using inks, sprays, paints, masks and rubberstamps. 

I've used a quote on it from the novel 'the raven boys' by Maggie Stiefvater."

Thanks as always to my wonderful DT...

and to all visitors, you still have all week to link up your Lady Blue project to enter the blog challenge and win free digital collage sheets!

 

Lunagirl Blog Challenge: LADY BLUE

The theme for my new Lunagirl blog challenge starting today is LADY BLUE.

In choosing this theme I was originally inspired by the Bluet blue-tinted postcards that were popular in the early 1920s.  I have quite a few in my collection, and sometimes tint other photo postcards to resemble them!

So that is one style of Lady Blue -- vintage blue-tinted postcards.  But "Lady Blue" could also be a lady dressed in blue, or a lady in a blue mood. You'll see that I have collage sheets that suit either of those interpretations...Then there are blue fairies, and blue angels, and blue birds, and ladies who sing the blues...   Wander wherever your imagination takes you inspired by the theme!

The Design Team will be sharing their visions of Lady Blue to get your creative juices flowing (see some of them below). 

GUIDELINES:
This challenge (#12) will end at 11:55 AM on October 20.

The winner will be selected randomly to win two free Lunagirl digital collage sheets of your choice!

Any craft or medium is OK,
No more than 3 entries from one person in each challenge, 

Vintage style is encouraged but not required, and
Please link to my blog and Lunagirl.com on your site if you have one.
 
Of course I love if you use at least one Lunagirl product, and I hope you'll go take a look at my collection... but that's not a requirement!  Most important is have fun, get creative, enjoy vintage. 

Here is an assortment of collage sheets that suit the Lady Blue theme, including some backgrounds.  (The lady I used for the challenge badge above is from Blue.)  

LUNAGIRL MOONBEAMS DESIGN TEAM
Find out more about the Moonbeams DT and visit their blogs! 

Here are some lovely interpretations of "Lady Blue" from the Lunagirl Moonbeams Design Team ~ a beautiful start to our challenge.  The DT are using images from these Lunagirl digital collage sheets:
Vintage Blue
Blue Belles
Sultry Blue

by Michele Storms

by Mandy Chilvers

Mandy Chilvers

Mandy Chilvers (closeup)

Petra Berendsen

Vicki Romaine

About Vicki's pretty lady blue tag:

"Since Lunagirl is sponsoring the Tag challenge on my blog.  I have created a tag with the theme "Lady Blue"  I took two images from one of the collage sheets and used one of her blue backgrounds.  I made part of the background a little darker by doing a repeat printing of  a strip of the background.    I think the diecut is from Memory Box.  It is one a friend gave me to show what she had ordered recently."

Don't forget to visit The Cheerful Stamppad this week and enter Vicki's "TAG" blog challenge as well!

TAGS challenge at the Cheerful Stamppad!

I'm very pleased to be sponsoring a challenge at Vicki Romaine's CHEERFULSTAMPPAD blog!

The theme is TAGS, and here is a pretty, feminine tag that Vicki has created.  She used images from a couple of Lunagirl collage sheets -- Victorian Elegance Tags and Women Vintage Labels -- complemented and enhanced with a beautifully distressed background and other embellishments.  I love the soft shabby French colors -- and look at the lady's crescent moon necklace!  It goes well with the curves of the frame around her.

Please do visit the CheerfulStamppad to see her full post about this tag and  ENTER THE TAGS CHALLENGE!

Free Vintage Photo! Flapper Girl with Daisies

 

Here is an image from a pretty vintage postcard, early 1920s, of a flapper girl with daisies.  I love the flower crown, and the dark lipstick and sultry eyes, as well as the color of this tinted postcard (which I did enhance/alter just a little!) This was from a French "Carte Postale."  Hope you enjoy it! (Click to enlarge and save.)

I know this photo doesn't particularly relate to digital backgrounds, but there is also a lovely blank postcard image a few posts back which makes a great background image!

Free Vintage Image: Girl Graduate Victorian Card

I found this lovely, unusual picture of a Victorian / Edwardian era picture of a female graduate, and thought I would share.  Isn't she pretty?  I like her eyes, and the flower.  Download and enjoy for personal use!
Congratulations to all graduates ~ and we should remember with gratitude the brave Victorian and Edwardian ladies who led the way, fought to get an education when no one thought they should, and blazed the trail for girls today!

Reverie on an "autumn" day

Labor Day traditionally marks the end of summer, and today at Lunagirl it certainly feels like the beginning of autumn -- cool air, grey skies, and a steady rain.  The rain is welcome after a dry month, and the 58-degree morning feels wonderful after a hot summer!  It was 99 degrees two days ago -- and being a Southerner I know the heat will come back several times before Halloween -- but for me today is a lovely early autumn day perfect for curling up with a book or just getting lost in reverie.  Here is a suitable "Moonday" freebie image I'd like to share (Pre-Raphaelite Art):

 For those of you with sunshine this Labor Day, enjoy your picnics! I will enjoy my cool rainy day, dream of the past with the history books and old novels I like to read, and pretend it's already Autumn, my favorite season.

Featured Collage Sheet: The Witching Hour

We offer a variety of Vintage Halloween collage sheets (plus our Holidays CD set!) ~ here's one with something just a little different, great for any time of year if you want some"witchy" ladies for your projects. "The Witching Hour" features some gorgeous Pre-Raphaelite paintings and fairy tale illustrations, plus altered Victorian postcards. Witches at their cauldrons, a sorceress or two, an ice queen, a lady gazing into her crystal ball, and a couple of little girl witches...

FULL MOON TONIGHT!

Monday Moonday Freebie!

It's Monday Again!

Let's do a Monday free image today ~ this pretty lady with her red hair and distant gaze seems perfect for this time of year. Here the locusts buzz and hum as summer drifts off, and there is cool air in the evenings and early mornings. Days are still warm and sunny, but the light is slanted and you can feel the wheel turning toward autumn. While the cooler air is energizing there's a sense of sadness and longing, even loss .... I guess I'm a romantic in the original sense, who likes my beauty mixed with a little darkness, because it's my favorite time of year!

Enjoy this image for your personal, non-commercial projects. Please credit Lunagirl Images if your work is displayed online or published. If you want to use this image for commercial use, just email at info@lunagirl.com

You'll find a great variety of images of women on our Lunagirl Victorian Vintage People CD! It's soon to be discontinued in favor of a revised edition, so get this version while you can.

A Poem for Autumn

The official first day of Fall is Sunday, but I couldn't wait. The oak trees are full of squawking bluejays here, come to feast on acorns, and that always means Autumn to me!

So to welcome the Autumnal Equinox, here is a poem.

The poem below was written around 500 AD, by an Indian poet named Kalidasa. The English translation is by Arthur W. Ryder (1877-1938).


AUTUMN
The autumn comes, a maiden fair
In slenderness and grace,
With nodding rice-stems in her hair
And lilies in her face.
In flowers of grasses she is clad;
And as she moves along,
Birds greet her with their cooing glad
Like bracelets' tinkling song.

A diadem adorns the night
Of multitudinous stars;
Her silken robe is white moonlight,
Set free from cloudy bars;
And on her face (the radiant moon)
Bewitching smiles are shown:
She seems a slender maid, who soon
Will be a woman grown.

Over the rice-fields, laden plants
Are shivering to the breeze;
While in his brisk caresses dance
The blossomed-burdened trees;
He ruffles every lily-pond
Where blossoms kiss and part,
And stirs with lover's fancies fond
The young man's eager heart.